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If you’re following along, last week we talked through which should come first, the guest list or the budget.
We talked about why it’s so important to set your budget first and how your budget actually determines how many guests you can invite. So now that we have a budget and guest list, the next step is to decide if you should book your venue or hire a Planner first.
This answer is pretty simple, actually.
It depends on if you want a Planner’s help from the very beginning of the planning process. I recommend you have a few consultations with different Planners early on to understand the benefits of various service levels, as well as the investment level. If you decide you’re interested in Full-Service planning, you’ll get the most out of your investment by booking your Planner before any other vendors.
If you decide you’re interested in some sort of partial, a la carte or Wedding Management (AKA Day of Coordination) service, then I’d book your venue first so you have that date secured and then book with your Planner.
Now, you might be asking yourself, “if I’m booking a Planner for Wedding Management (or Day of Coordination) do I really need to secure that contract so early?”
The short answer is, no, you definitely don’t have to, but I’m all about getting the most out of your investment in a Planner, whatever the service level is. Most Planners offer some sort of guidance throughout the planning process for their wedding management clients. Whether that’s in the form of access to their client planning portal with resources for planning (think checklists, budgets, vendor recs, guest management tools, etc), monthly check-in emails, unlimited email communication, or something else that will serve you throughout your planning process. So the earlier you book your Planner, even for Wedding Management (or Day of Coordination) the more you’re going to get out of that investment over the long term.
Next week we’ll be talking about what order you should book your wedding vendors in, but in the meantime, schedule a few consultations with some local wedding planners (you can schedule one with us here) to decide what service level is best for you & then start working on finding your wedding venue (YAY!)
Wondering if you need a Wedding Planner?
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